Infant sleep: how to manage the time change

Summer time starts in Spain on March 26. It is the most dreaded time change: the morning of March 26, the clock advances one hour, and we lose an hour of sleep! The arrival of summer effects adults and children in the same way. The difference is that an adult is able to re-regulate his body, but a baby needs help to re-establish habits and get the sleep he needs.

My advice to precipitate the change to avoid infants and children having several days of sleep deprivation: over-tiredness, irritability, moodiness and even over excitement. Therefore, I advice helping the smallest members of the house in advance so as not to affect their rest.

In the case of the change to daylight savings time, you have to keep in mind that you lose one hour of sleep. The trick is to gradually adjust your babies schedule forward for naps and bed time, until he is waking up about an hour later than usual. You can start about a week before the change with a 10/15min adjustment in sleeping routines.

Babies and children feel more secure if we are predictable with the sleeping routines. It is recommended to follow the same order every day: dinner, bath, story and bed.

Recommendations for parents

For daylights savings changes you will need to be patient, But I do recommend starting early to change sleeping times and avoid everyone suffering from several days of sleep deprivation.

In addition, as I always tell the families I work with: the key is to consistently follow a schedule at home for all sleep times.

However, sometimes we just don´t have time to plan ahead. If you have not had time to plan ahead and prepare your child before the arrival of daylight saving time, I recommend that you put them to bed a little later each day for a week until their bodies adjust.